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Fuel came in many forms in Dakota Territory, from scarce wood to expensive coal to abundant straw and prairie grasses. In her book "The Long Winter," author Laura Ingalls Wilder describes twisting prairie grass and hay to make it denser, so it would burn longer. Wilder’s home town of De Smet offers this week’s What’s New Wednesday. This straw burning stove was built by the De Smet Stove Company, “Manufacturers of Straw Consuming Stoves”. Patented in 1889, the stove’s lid, the gold handle on the top, would come off so it could be filled. 

The donor, Bertha Haufle’s, family used this artifact. The family, the Goodman Nelsons, lived 2 miles west and 5.5 miles south of Lake Preston South Dakota in Kingsbury County, not far from De Smet. With the abundance of straw and hay resources in the area, this was a nifty stove to have. 

SDAHM Mrs. Bertha Haufle 1970:040:002